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Make Turf Moor fortress, says Burnley new boy Sordell

MARVIN Sordell has called on the fans to make Turf Moor a ‘fortress’ this season as he promised that Burnley will go out to attack teams in the Premier League.

Sordell netted his third goal of pre-season at Blackpool on Saturday, and afterwards said that the Clarets would play on the front foot and ‘give it a good go’ in the top flight.

The former Bolton striker also scored twice in the 8-0 win over FC Grossklein in Austria and is competing with Ashley Barnes and Lukas Jutkiewicz for a starting place against Chelsea at Turf Moor on August 18.

With only two weeks remaining until that opening league game, Sordell said he couldn’t wait to get going.

“I’m really looking forward to the start of the season,” he said.

“It’s going to be exciting for us and the fans, we just want to start fast and hard.

“We want to play on the front foot and go at teams and give it a good go. “We want to play going forward rather than looking back, that’s the manager’s mentality and it’s a good one to have and all the lads are on board and that’s how we want to play.

“The way to go and win games is by playing with an offensive, forward thinking mentality and that’s what the manager has instilled in the team and all the players and I think it will stand us in good stead.”

After the Chelsea game Manchester United are the next visitors to Turf Moor, where Burnley lost just two of their 23 league games last season.

Home form could be key to survival in the Premier League, and Sordell believes the fans can play a big part in that.

“There’s not going to be many harder teams to play this season,” he said.

“It’s a tough team to play but we’re not afraid of anyone in the league. “Even out in Austria there was a great following and if they can make that place a fortress it can really help us.”

Sordell, who worked with Sean Dyche during his time at Watford and jumped at the chance to be reunited with the boss this summer, said that the club were also looking at what marginal gains could be made during the Premier League season.

He wore a special pair of tights to aid muscle recovery after the game at Bloomfield Road.

“We’re all about the percentage at this club,” he added.

“After the game most people put on the recovery skins and some have ice baths or shakes, every little thing you can do to make sure your body recovers right and you’re ready for training come Monday.

“Every little percentage can make a huge difference, when you add them all up per player over a squad you can add 10, 15, 20 per cent of a difference from where you were before to where you are.”

Despite scoring the only goal of the game on Saturday, Sordell was disappointed not to have added to his tally.

He said: “It’s good to be scoring and it’s another good pre-season workout for us. I had a couple of good chances and thought I should probably have done better but that’s what pre-season is for, to sharpen you up and get ready for when the season starts.”

The Clarets are still hoping to add to their squad before the start of the season but have seen a third bid for centre back Craig Dawson, thought to be around £2m, rejected by West Brom.